If you are to believe the blurb on the box of a game or in this case the blurb in Steam, then Zombasite isn’t just another game with zombies, it’s a Soldak Entertainment game with zombies. So that makes it ok apparantly. It’s been in Early Access for about ten months, which is quite a while and we have been following this one for quite some time as well. If you like the catch up on what we have written about this title in the past, the preview can be read here.

Story

Zombasite is what happens when the zombie curse -in this game the creation of zombies is done by a curse- is mixed with a parasite, hence: Zombasite. There was once a man named Ciglio whom had the brilliant idea of creating mindless dead creatures and bind them so the could do his bidding. In theory, as it always is in this kind of fantasy, this seems like a decent plan. Honestly what could go wrong, apart from you losing control and being another nibble on the zombie platter. This hasn’t happened to Ciglio, but he did die. So the curse is lifted and all is well in the world? Not really, the dark elves caught on to Ciglio and tried to control the zombies and in doing so created something even more powerful and more vile, so even the dark elves were soon in too deep. The zombie parasite doesn’t just create a mindless husk, it actually is intelligent, and malevolent and it’ll do anything to kill anyone in their path. So it’s up to you to band together with other clans to put a stop to this voracious curse roaming the land.

The story in the singleplayer campaign is more set on the actions you take and which clans you befriend so it’s more of a ‘living’ story rather than a preset one. So you make your own story and decide the fate of others.

Graphics

When it comes to the graphics it doesn’t really shine, then again, the game really is a rather small file, which works in its favor when you have a low end budget pc to play it on. This also means you’d best not go in with high expectations when it comes to graphics. The UI has had some upgrades in the latest patches however there is some room for improvements. One of them being a marker on the minimap to show where you are heading. Also there’s really a lot going on at any time on the screen, and it somehow feels cluttered. The difference in fonts during gameplay somehow feels jarring while the damage counters and the statements about the blows somehow clash with the overall feeling of the game.

When it comes to navigating your way around the map, things are clear cut when you look on the minimap, however it becomes confusing when you toggle it. When it’s not around you might think that you can pass through certain terrain which is actually a barrier. This wouldn’t be a problem if the objects weren’t used as entities you can pass through in the rest of the map, making things confusing.

Sound

The first impression of the game was that the sound was rather lacklustre and this hasn’t changed. Yes there is some nice background noise and the sounds of enemies devouring each other is rather messy and adds to the gorey feeling of the game, but the lack of a decent constant soundtrack is rather annoying. There’s a light tune that flickers in and out of existence, but nothing consistent. This really makes it difficult to keep you immersed. Sadly, there isn’t any voice acting, but then again, to voice 240 quests, when you have limited resources at your disposal, it’s probably hard to manage.

Gameplay

Zombasite is an action/adventure RPG. The game is reminiscent of Diablo, mechanics wise, but has a fairly unique clan system in place to put a spin on things. When you think about Diablo, the first thing to comes to mind is the character classes. The game boasts different classes of warriors, so if you are more of a magic casting type of player, then you’ll be pleased to know you’ll be able to chuck fire or ice and other spells at the enemies. Fancy yourself in a suit of armour while using a sword to hack away at the monsters? Then that’s also a possiblity. Don’t think there aren’t any characters that are capable of putting an arrow right between the eyes of an enemy, so if you’re the sharp shooting kind of player, you’ll be pleased to know you’re not being left out. There are nine character classes. If you go by playing the game by all eight different characters, the ninth will catch you by surprise. It’s a ‘hybrid’ class which lets you pick two skill trees and creates something completely different.

When you kill things or complete quests, you’ll gain experience and that’ll level you up. Upon leveling up, you’ll gain points which you can drop into skill tabs and also points for you to distribute into your character’s stats. When facing the skills know that you can upgrade, you’ll be tasked with a choice. Most characters have three character builds which all have ten skills, and every character even has a trait menu in which there are another twenty skills. If you want to teach your character a skill, you’ll need the amount of points necessary to unlock without need of a prior skill. Let’s say you want the skill in the bottom row of the tab, you can unlock this by having the correct or larger amount of points. This way you don’t have to unlock the previous skills just to get the skill you want. Just have the appropriate amount of points and bam! You’ll be free to use it whenever you want or use it all the time if it’s a passive ability.

Different character classes have different armour, mages aren’t really in their element when they are wearing plate armour and knights wouldn’t want to go into battle in just robes, so you’ll have to don the right armour for the right character. When you play the game you’ll notice that most of your armour and weaponry will come from enemy drops. Armour and weaponry doesn’t just become outdated just because you found a pair of leggings or an axe with better stats. You can upgrade your armour and weapons so they might even be better then the one you just found. So think twice before you toss an item, even if it really has outgrown you, you can sell the loot that you can’t use. Or even give it to allies to strengthen the bond between clans or unite with a clan that you haven’t reached out to yet.

You’re not the only one who grows stronger as he/she slays their enemies. The monstrosities themselves dine upon their fallen comrades and grow stronger. This makes it feel like the game actually fights back and really tries it’s best to keep you from winning. It has to be said that the game is good at keeping you from victory. It’s rather difficult, even thought it sports four different ways to win the game. In random order, there’s the ‘logistics win’, where you win by hoarding provisions. There’s the ‘adventurer win’ by completing quests.

The last two is where Zombasite wanders from the Diablo formula. They are the ‘diplomatic win’ and the ‘military win’. The first one is banding together with all the clans on the map. You pick the amount of clans before you start up a game. When a clan dies, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t pull off the diplomatic win’ anymore, it just means you’ll have one less clan to please. However, if you aren’t really the peaceful type, you might go all out and kill every clan and their grandmother and secure the ‘military win.’

Every now and then a screen will pop up and a clan will talk to you, giving you a chance to improve or worsen the relations between you and them. Completing quests will strengthen your bond with a clan, if it’s a clan related quest. However, if the clan is disliked by another clan, your relationship with the clan that is in conflict with the clan you helped will worsen. If you think that with so many ways to win, there’s no way for me to lose, well you’d be right, but the game doesn’t pull it’s punches. Now say you aren’t really doing too well, the game will start a timer. This means you’re losing. This doesn’t necessarily mean the game is over. You have 10 minutes to reverse the situation and get back into the game. It’s then that the game really needs you to keep your cool and stay focused.

Now let’s say you win. That’s a big if, because Zombasite will test you, but let’s say you do. When that happens, you can pick another world, and change the parameters, or keep them as is and start over again with your character at the level they won the previous game at. This way the game gradually turns from difficult to maniacally difficult as you progress and win.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a game like Diablo but with an extra layer adding some rather neat gameplay mechanics, then this game will suit you just fine. It will also steal some hours of your life if you are looking for a challenge and aren’t afraid of a steep learning curve. It really isn’t easy and might deter a more casual player so if you are looking for a mindless action/adventure RPG where you just click and wait for the enemies to die, then you aren’t going to find what you are looking for in Zombasite.

First game ever was Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped, ever since then, gaming has been something that I've gravitated to. Reading's fun but not as interactive. Always up for a bout of online multiplayer. If that multiplayer is co-op. So if you are up for a friendly co-op session, hit me up. Rahenik's the name to search on PSN.